<!--
  * t
  ****************************************************************************
  * Copyright 2018-2024,2025 Thomas E. Dickey                                *
  * Copyright 1998-2016,2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.                  *
  *                                                                          *
  * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a  *
  * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the            *
  * "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including      *
  * without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,      *
  * distribute, distribute with modifications, sublicense, and/or sell       *
  * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is    *
  * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:                 *
  *                                                                          *
  * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included  *
  * in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.                   *
  *                                                                          *
  * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS  *
  * OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF               *
  * MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.   *
  * IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ABOVE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,   *
  * DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR    *
  * OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR    *
  * THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.                               *
  *                                                                          *
  * Except as contained in this notice, the name(s) of the above copyright   *
  * holders shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the     *
  * sale, use or other dealings in this Software without prior written       *
  * authorization.                                                           *
  ****************************************************************************
  * @Id: tput.1,v 1.132 2025/02/15 19:35:19 tom Exp @
-->
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name="generator" content="Manpage converted by man2html - see https://invisible-island.net/scripts/readme.html#others_scripts">
<TITLE>tput 1 2025-02-15 ncurses 6.5 User commands</TITLE>
<link rel="author" href="mailto:bug-ncurses@gnu.org">

</HEAD>
<BODY>
<H1 class="no-header">tput 1 2025-02-15 ncurses 6.5 User commands</H1>
<PRE>
<STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG>                          User commands                         <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG>




</PRE><H2><a name="h2-NAME">NAME</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> - initialize a terminal, exercise its capabilities, or query <EM>term-</EM>
       <EM>info</EM> database


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-T</STRONG> <EM>terminal-type</EM>] {<EM>cap-code</EM> [<EM>parameter</EM> ...]} ...

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-T</STRONG> <EM>terminal-type</EM>] [<STRONG>-x</STRONG>] <STRONG>clear</STRONG>

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-T</STRONG> <EM>terminal-type</EM>] <STRONG>init</STRONG>

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-T</STRONG> <EM>terminal-type</EM>] <STRONG>reset</STRONG>

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] [<STRONG>-T</STRONG> <EM>terminal-type</EM>] <STRONG>longname</STRONG>

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] <STRONG>-S</STRONG>

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> [<STRONG>-v</STRONG>] <STRONG>-V</STRONG>


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> uses the <EM>terminfo</EM> library and database to  make  terminal-specific
       capabilities  and  information available to the shell, to initialize or
       reset the terminal, or to report  a  description  of  the  current  (or
       specified)  terminal  type.  Terminal capabilities are accessed by <EM>cap-</EM>
       <EM>code</EM>.

       <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG> discusses terminal capabilities at length  and  presents  a
       complete list of <EM>cap-codes</EM>.

       When   retrieving  capability  values,  the  result  depends  upon  the
       capability's type.

       Boolean  <STRONG>tput</STRONG> sets its exit status to <STRONG>0</STRONG> if the terminal possesses  <EM>cap-</EM>
                <EM>code</EM>, and <STRONG>1</STRONG> if it does not.

       numeric  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  writes  <EM>cap-code</EM>'s  decimal value to the standard output
                stream if defined (<STRONG>-1</STRONG> if it is not) followed by a newline.

       string   <STRONG>tput</STRONG> writes <EM>cap-code</EM>'s value to the standard output stream  if
                defined, without a trailing newline.

       Before  using  a value returned on the standard output, the application
       should test <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>'s</STRONG> exit status to be sure it is 0; see  section  "EXIT
       STATUS" below.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Operands">Operands</a></H3><PRE>
       Generally,  an  operand  is  a  <EM>cap-code</EM>,  a  capability  code from the
       terminal database, or a parameter thereto.  Three others are  specially
       recognized by <STRONG>tput</STRONG>: <STRONG>init</STRONG>, <STRONG>reset</STRONG>, and <STRONG>longname</STRONG>.  Although these resemble
       capability codes, they in fact receive special handling; we  term  them
       "pseudo-capabilities".

       <EM>cap-code</EM>   indicates a capability from the terminal database.

                  If  <EM>cap-code</EM>  is  of  string type and takes parameters, <STRONG>tput</STRONG>
                  interprets arguments following <EM>cap-code</EM> as  the  parameters,
                  up to the (fixed) quantity the capability requires.

                  Most   parameters   are   numeric.    Only  a  few  terminal
                  capabilities require string parameters; <STRONG>tput</STRONG> uses a table to
                  decide  which  to  pass  as  strings.   Normally  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  uses
                  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tparm(3x)</A></STRONG> to perform the substitution.  If no parameters are
                  given  for  the  capability,  <STRONG>tput</STRONG> writes the string without
                  performing the substitution.

       <STRONG>init</STRONG>       initializes the  terminal.   If  the  terminal  database  is
                  present  and  an  entry for the user's terminal type exists,
                  the following occur.

                  (1)  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  retrieves  the  terminal's  mode  settings.    It
                       successively  tests  the file descriptors corresponding
                       to

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the standard error stream,

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the standard output stream,

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   the standard input stream, and

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <EM>/dev/tty</EM>

                       to obtain terminal settings.   Having  retrieved  them,
                       <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  remembers  which  descriptor  to  use for further
                       updates.

                  (2)  If the terminal dimensions cannot be obtained from  the
                       operating  system, but the environment or terminal type
                       database  entry  describes  them,  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>   updates   the
                       operating system's notion of them.

                  (3)  <STRONG>tput</STRONG> updates the terminal modes.

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Any  delays  specified  in  the entry (for example,
                           when a newline is sent) are  set  in  the  terminal
                           driver.

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Tab   expansion   is  turned  on  or  off  per  the
                           specification in the entry, and

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   if tabs are not expanded, standard  tabs  (every  8
                           spaces) are set.

                  (4)  If  initialization capabilities, detailed in subsection
                       "Tabs and Initialization" of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>, are  present,
                       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> writes them to the standard output stream.

                  (5)  <STRONG>tput</STRONG> flushes the standard output stream.

                  If  an  entry  lacks  the information needed for an activity
                  above, that activity is silently skipped.

       <STRONG>reset</STRONG>      re-initializes  the  terminal.    A   reset   differs   from
                  initialization in two ways.

                  (1)  <STRONG>tput</STRONG> sets the terminal modes to a "sane" state,

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   enabling canonical ("cooked") and echo modes,

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   disabling cbreak and raw modes,

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   enabling newline translation, and

                       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   setting  any  special  input  characters  to  their
                           default values.

                  (2)  If any reset capabilities are defined for the  terminal
                       type,   <STRONG>tput</STRONG>   writes   them   to  the  output  stream.
                       Otherwise,  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  uses   any   defined   initialization
                       capabilities.    Reset  capabilities  are  detailed  in
                       subsection "Tabs and Initialization" of <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.

       <STRONG>longname</STRONG>   A <EM>terminfo</EM> entry begins with one or more names by  which  an
                  application  can  refer  to  the  entry,  before the list of
                  terminal capabilities.   The  names  are  separated  by  "|"
                  characters.   X/Open  Curses  terms  the last name the "long
                  name", and indicates that it may include blanks.

                  <STRONG>tic</STRONG> warns if the last  name  does  not  include  blanks,  to
                  accommodate  old <EM>terminfo</EM> entries that treated the long name
                  as an optional feature.  The long name is often referred  to
                  as the description field.

                  If  the  terminal  database  is present and an entry for the
                  user's terminal type exists, <STRONG>tput</STRONG> reports its description to
                  the standard output stream, without a trailing newline.  See
                  <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>.

       <EM>Note:</EM> Redirecting the output of "<STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>init</STRONG>" or "<STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>reset</STRONG>" to  a  file
       will capture only part of their actions.  Changes to the terminal modes
       are not affected by file descriptor  redirection,  since  the  terminal
       modes are altered via <STRONG>ioctl(2)</STRONG>.


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Aliases">Aliases</a></H3><PRE>
       If  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  is  invoked  via  link  with any of the names <STRONG>clear</STRONG>, <STRONG>init</STRONG>, or
       <STRONG>reset</STRONG>, it operates as if run with the corresponding (pseudo-)capability
       operand.  For example, executing a link named <STRONG>reset</STRONG> that points to <STRONG>tput</STRONG>
       has the same effect as "<STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>reset</STRONG>".

       This feature was introduced by <EM>ncurses</EM> 5.2 in 2000.  It is rarely used.

       <STRONG>clear</STRONG>  is a separate program, which is both smaller and more frequently
              executed.

       <STRONG>init</STRONG>   has the same name as another program in widespread use.

       <STRONG>reset</STRONG>  is  provided  by  the  <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG>  utility  (also  via a link named
              <STRONG>reset</STRONG>).


</PRE><H3><a name="h3-Terminal-Size">Terminal Size</a></H3><PRE>
       Besides the pseudo-capabilities (such as <STRONG>init</STRONG>), <STRONG>tput</STRONG> treats  the  <STRONG>lines</STRONG>
       and  <STRONG>cols</STRONG>  <EM>cap-codes</EM> specially: it may call <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">setupterm(3x)</A></STRONG> to obtain the
       terminal size.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   First, <STRONG>tput</STRONG> attempts to obtain these capabilities from the terminal
           database.   This generally fails for terminal emulators, which lack
           a fixed window size and thus omit the capabilities.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   It then asks the operating system for the  terminal's  size,  which
           generally  works,  unless  the connection is via a serial line that
           does not support "NAWS": negotiations about window size.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   Finally, it inspects the environment variables <EM>LINES</EM>  and  <EM>COLUMNS</EM>,
           which may override the terminal size.

       If  the  <STRONG>-T</STRONG>  option is given, <STRONG>tput</STRONG> ignores the environment variables by
       calling  <STRONG>use_tioctl(TRUE)</STRONG>,  relying  upon  the  operating  system  (or,
       ultimately, the terminal database).


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>-S</STRONG>       retrieves  more  than  one  capability per invocation of <STRONG>tput</STRONG>.
                The capabilities must be passed  to  <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  from  the  standard
                input  stream  instead  of  from the command line (see section
                "EXAMPLES" below).  Only one <EM>cap-code</EM>  is  allowed  per  line.
                The  <STRONG>-S</STRONG>  option  changes  the  meanings  of  the  <STRONG>0</STRONG> and <STRONG>1</STRONG> exit
                statuses (see section "EXIT STATUS" below).

                Some capabilities use string parameters  rather  than  numeric
                ones.   <STRONG>tput</STRONG>  employs  a  built-in  table  and the presence of
                parameters in its input to decide how to interpret  them,  and
                whether to use <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tparm(3x)</A></STRONG>.

       <STRONG>-T</STRONG> <EM>type</EM>  indicates  the  terminal's  <EM>type</EM>.   Normally  this  option  is
                unnecessary,  because  a  default  is  taken  from  the   <EM>TERM</EM>
                environment variable.  If specified, the environment variables
                <EM>LINES</EM> and <EM>COLUMNS</EM> are also ignored.

       <STRONG>-v</STRONG>       causes <STRONG>tput</STRONG> to operate verbosely, reporting warnings.

       <STRONG>-V</STRONG>       reports the version of <EM>ncurses</EM> associated with <STRONG>tput</STRONG>, and exits
                with a successful status.

       <STRONG>-x</STRONG>       prevents  "<STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>clear</STRONG>" from attempting to clear the scrollback
                buffer.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXIT-STATUS">EXIT STATUS</a></H2><PRE>
       Normally, one should interpret <STRONG>tput</STRONG>'s exit statuses as follows.

       <STRONG>Status</STRONG>   <STRONG>Meaning</STRONG> <STRONG>When</STRONG> <STRONG>-S</STRONG> <STRONG>Not</STRONG> <STRONG>Specified</STRONG>
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       <STRONG>0</STRONG>        Boolean or string capability present
       <STRONG>1</STRONG>        Boolean or numeric capability absent
       <STRONG>2</STRONG>        usage error or no terminal type specified
       <STRONG>3</STRONG>        unrecognized terminal type
       <STRONG>4</STRONG>        unrecognized capability code
       <STRONG>&gt;4</STRONG>       system error (4 + <STRONG>errno</STRONG>)

       When the <STRONG>-S</STRONG> option is used, some statuses change meanings.

       <STRONG>Status</STRONG>   <STRONG>Meaning</STRONG> <STRONG>When</STRONG> <STRONG>-S</STRONG> <STRONG>Specified</STRONG>
       ------------------------------------------------------------------------
       <STRONG>0</STRONG>        all operands interpreted
       <STRONG>1</STRONG>        unused
       <STRONG>4</STRONG>        some operands not interpreted


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-ENVIRONMENT">ENVIRONMENT</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> reads up to three environment variables if the <STRONG>-T</STRONG>  option  is  not
       specified.

       <EM>COLUMNS</EM>  specifies the width of the screen in characters.

       <EM>LINES</EM>    specifies the height of the screen in characters.

       <EM>TERM</EM>     denotes  the  terminal  type.  Each terminal type is distinct,
                though many are similar.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-FILES">FILES</a></H2><PRE>
       <EM>/usr/share/tabset</EM>
              tab stop initialization database

       <EM>/usr/share/terminfo</EM>
              compiled terminal description database


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></H2><PRE>
       Over time <EM>ncurses</EM> <STRONG>tput</STRONG> has  differed  from  that  of  System V  in  two
       important respects, one now mostly historical.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   "<STRONG>tput</STRONG>  <EM>cap-code</EM>" writes to the standard output, which need not be a
           terminal device.  However, the operands  that  manipulate  terminal
           modes might not use the standard output.

           System V  <EM>tput</EM>'s  <STRONG>init</STRONG>  and  <STRONG>reset</STRONG>  operands use logic from 4.1cBSD
           <EM>tset</EM>,  manipulating  terminal  modes.   It  checks  the  same  file
           descriptors  (and  <EM>/dev/tty</EM>) for association with a terminal device
           as <EM>ncurses</EM> now does, and if none are, finally assumes a  1200  baud
           terminal.  When updating terminal modes, it ignores errors.

           Until  <EM>ncurses</EM>  6.1  (see  section  "HISTORY"  below), <STRONG>tput</STRONG> did not
           modify  terminal  modes.   It  now  employs  a  scheme  similar  to
           System V, using functions shared with <STRONG>tset</STRONG> (and ultimately based on
           4.4BSD <EM>tset</EM>).  If it is not able to open a terminal (for  instance,
           when run by <STRONG>cron(1)</STRONG>), <STRONG>tput</STRONG> exits with an error status.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   System V  <EM>tput</EM>  assumes  that  the  type  of  a <EM>cap-code</EM> operand is
           numeric if all the characters of its value are decimal numbers;  if
           they are not, it treats <EM>cap-code</EM> as a string capability.

           Most implementations that provide support for <EM>cap-code</EM> operands use
           the <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tparm(3x)</A></STRONG> function to expand  its  parameters.   That  function
           expects  a mixture of numeric and string parameters, requiring <STRONG>tput</STRONG>
           to know which type to use.

           <EM>ncurses</EM> <STRONG>tput</STRONG> uses a table to determine the parameter types for  the
           standard  <EM>cap-code</EM>  operands,  and  an internal function to analyze
           nonstandard <EM>cap-code</EM> operands.

           While more reliable than System V's utility, a portability  problem
           is  introduced  by this analysis.  An OpenBSD developer adapted the
           internal library function from <EM>ncurses</EM> to  port  NetBSD's  <EM>termcap</EM>-
           based  <EM>tput</EM> to <EM>terminfo</EM>, and modified it to interpret multiple <EM>cap-</EM>
           <EM>codes</EM> (and parameters) on the command line.  Portable  applications
           should  not  rely  upon  this feature; <EM>ncurses</EM> offers it to support
           applications written specifically for OpenBSD.

       This implementation, unlike others, accepts both <EM>termcap</EM>  and  <EM>terminfo</EM>
       <EM>cap-codes</EM>  if  <EM>termcap</EM>  support is compiled in.  In that case, however,
       the predefined <EM>termcap</EM> and <EM>terminfo</EM> codes have two ambiguities; <EM>ncurses</EM>
       assumes the <EM>terminfo</EM> code.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   The  <EM>cap-code</EM>  <STRONG>dl</STRONG> means <STRONG>delete_line</STRONG> to <EM>termcap</EM> but <STRONG>parm_delete_line</STRONG>
           to <EM>terminfo</EM>.  <EM>termcap</EM> uses the code <STRONG>DL</STRONG> for <STRONG>parm_delete_line</STRONG>.  <EM>term-</EM>
           <EM>info</EM> uses the code <STRONG>dl1</STRONG> for <STRONG>delete_line</STRONG>.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   The  <EM>cap-code</EM>  <STRONG>ed</STRONG>  means <STRONG>exit_delete_mode</STRONG> to <EM>termcap</EM> but <STRONG>clr_eos</STRONG> to
           <EM>terminfo</EM>.  <EM>termcap</EM> uses the code <STRONG>cd</STRONG> for <STRONG>clr_eos</STRONG>.  <EM>terminfo</EM> uses the
           code <STRONG>rmdc</STRONG> for <STRONG>exit_delete_mode</STRONG>.

       The   <STRONG>longname</STRONG>  operand,  <STRONG>-S</STRONG>  option,  and  the  parameter-substitution
       features used in the <STRONG>cup</STRONG> example below, were not supported in  AT&amp;T/USL
       <EM>curses</EM> before SVr4 (1989).  Later, 4.3BSD-Reno (1990) added support for
       <STRONG>longname</STRONG>,  and  in  1994,  NetBSD  added  support  for  the  parameter-
       substitution features.

       IEEE   Std   1003.1/The   Open   Group   Base   Specifications  Issue 7
       (POSIX.1-2008) documents only the <STRONG>clear</STRONG>, <STRONG>init</STRONG>, and <STRONG>reset</STRONG>  operands.   A
       few observations of interest arise from that selection.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <EM>ncurses</EM> supports <STRONG>clear</STRONG> as it does any other standard <EM>cap-code</EM>.  The
           others  (<STRONG>init</STRONG>  and  <STRONG>longname</STRONG>)  do  not   correspond   to   terminal
           capabilities.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   The  <EM>tput</EM> on SVr4-based systems such as Solaris, IRIX64, and HP-UX,
           as well as others such as AIX and Tru64, also support standard <EM>cap-</EM>
           <EM>code</EM> operands.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   A few platforms such as FreeBSD recognize <EM>termcap</EM> codes rather than
           <EM>terminfo</EM> capability codes in their respective <EM>tput</EM> commands.  Since
           2010,  NetBSD's  <EM>tput</EM>  uses  <EM>terminfo</EM> codes.  Before that, it (like
           FreeBSD) recognized <EM>termcap</EM> codes.

           Beginning in 2021, FreeBSD uses <EM>ncurses</EM> <STRONG>tput</STRONG>, configured  for  both
           <EM>terminfo</EM> (tested first) and <EM>termcap</EM> (as a fallback).

       Because (apparently) all <EM>certified</EM> Unix systems support the full set of
       capability codes, the reason for documenting only  a  few  may  not  be
       apparent.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   X/Open Curses Issue 7 documents <STRONG>tput</STRONG> differently, with <EM>cap-code</EM> and
           the other features used in this implementation.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   That is, there are two standards for <EM>tput</EM>:  POSIX  (a  subset)  and
           X/Open  Curses (the full implementation).  POSIX documents a subset
           to avoid the  complication  of  including  X/Open  Curses  and  the
           terminal capability database.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   While  it  is  certainly  possible  to write a <EM>tput</EM> program without
           using <EM>curses</EM>, no system with a  <EM>curses</EM>  implementation  provides  a
           <EM>tput</EM> utility that does not also support standard <EM>cap-codes</EM>.

       X/Open   Curses  Issue 7  (2009)  is  the  first  version  to  document
       utilities.  However that part of X/Open Curses does not follow existing
       practice (that is, System V <EM>curses</EM> behavior).

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   It  assigns  exit status 4 to "invalid operand", which may have the
           same meaning as "unknown capability".   For  instance,  the  source
           code for Solaris <EM>xcurses</EM> uses the term "invalid" in this case.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   It  assigns  exit  status  255  to  a  numeric variable that is not
           specified in the <EM>terminfo</EM> database.  That likely is a documentation
           error,  mistaking  the  "-1"  written  to  the  standard  output to
           indicate an absent or canceled numeric capability for an (unsigned)
           exit status.

       The various System V implementations (AIX, HP-UX, Solaris) use the same
       exit statuses as <EM>ncurses</EM>.

       NetBSD <EM>curses</EM>  documents  exit  statuses  that  correspond  to  neither
       <EM>ncurses</EM> nor X/Open Curses.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></H2><PRE>
       Bill  Joy  wrote  a  <EM>tput</EM> command during development of 4BSD in October
       1980.  This initial version only cleared the screen, and did  not  ship
       with official distributions.

       System V developed a different <EM>tput</EM> command.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   SVr2  (1984) provided a rudimentary <EM>tput</EM> that checked the parameter
           against each predefined capability and returned  the  corresponding
           value.    This   version   of   <EM>tput</EM>  did  not  use  <STRONG><A HREF="curs_terminfo.3x.html">tparm(3x)</A></STRONG>  for
           parameterized capabilities.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   SVr3 (1987) replaced that  with  a  more  extensive  program  whose
           support  for  <STRONG>init</STRONG>  and <STRONG>reset</STRONG> operands (more than half the program)
           incorporated the <STRONG>reset</STRONG> feature of BSD <EM>tset</EM> written by Eric Allman.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   SVr4 (1989) added color initialization  by  using  the  <STRONG>orig_colors</STRONG>
           (<STRONG>oc</STRONG>) and <STRONG>orig_pair</STRONG> (<STRONG>op</STRONG>) capabilities in its <STRONG>init</STRONG> logic.

       Keith  Bostic  refactored BSD <EM>tput</EM> for shipment in 4.3BSD-Tahoe (1988),
       then replaced it the next year  with  a  new  implementation  based  on
       System V  <EM>tput</EM>.   Bostic's  version  similarly accepted some parameters
       named for <EM>terminfo</EM> (pseudo-)capabilities: <STRONG>clear</STRONG>,  <STRONG>init</STRONG>,  <STRONG>longname</STRONG>,  and
       <STRONG>reset</STRONG>.   However,  because  he  had only <EM>termcap</EM> available, it accepted
       <EM>termcap</EM> codes for other capabilities.  Also, Bostic's BSD <EM>tput</EM> did  not
       modify the terminal modes as the earlier BSD <EM>tset</EM> had done.

       At  the  same time, Bostic added a shell script named "clear" that used
       <EM>tput</EM> to clear the screen.  Both of these appeared in  4.4BSD,  becoming
       the "modern" BSD implementation of <EM>tput</EM>.

       The  origin of <EM>ncurses</EM> <STRONG>tput</STRONG> lies outside both System V and BSD, in Ross
       Ridge's <EM>mytinfo</EM> package, published  on  <EM>comp.sources.unix</EM>  in  December
       1992.   Ridge's  program  made  more  sophisticated use of the terminal
       capabilities than the BSD program.  Eric Raymond used that <EM>tput</EM> program
       (and  other  parts  of <EM>mytinfo</EM>) in <EM>ncurses</EM> in June 1995.  Incorporating
       the portions dealing with terminal capabilities almost without  change,
       Raymond  made  improvements  to  the  way  command-line parameters were
       handled.

       Before <EM>ncurses</EM> 6.1 (2018), its <STRONG>tset</STRONG> and <STRONG>tput</STRONG> utilities differed.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   <STRONG>tset</STRONG> was more effective, resetting the terminal's modes and special
           input characters.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   On  the  other hand, <STRONG>tset</STRONG>'s repertoire of terminal capabilities for
           resetting the terminal was more limited; it had only equivalents of
           <STRONG>reset_1string</STRONG>  (<STRONG>rs1</STRONG>), <STRONG>reset_2string</STRONG> (<STRONG>rs2</STRONG>), and <STRONG>reset_file</STRONG> (<STRONG>rf</STRONG>), and
           not the tab stop and margin update features of <STRONG>tput</STRONG>.

       The <EM>reset</EM> program is traditionally an alias for <STRONG>tset</STRONG> due to its ability
       to reset the terminal's modes and special input characters.

       As  of  <EM>ncurses</EM>  6.1,  the  "reset"  features  of  the two programs are
       (mostly) the same.  Two minor differences remain.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   When issuing a reset, the <STRONG>tset</STRONG> program checks  whether  the  device
           appears  to  be  a  pseudoterminal  (as might be used by a terminal
           emulator program), and, if it does not, waits one second in case it
           is communicating with a hardware terminal.

       <STRONG>o</STRONG>   The  two  programs  write  the  terminal  initialization strings to
           different streams; that is, standard error for  <STRONG>tset</STRONG>  and  standard
           output for <STRONG>tput</STRONG>.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-EXAMPLES">EXAMPLES</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>init</STRONG>
              Initialize the terminal according to the type of terminal in the
              <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable.  If  the  system  does  not  reliably
              initialize the terminal upon login, this command can be included
              in <EM>$HOME/.profile</EM> after exporting the <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>-T5620</STRONG> <STRONG>reset</STRONG>
              Reset an AT&amp;T 5620 terminal, overriding the terminal type in the
              <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>cnorm</STRONG>
              Set cursor to normal visibility.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>home</STRONG>
              Move  the  cursor  to line 0, column 0: the upper left corner of
              the screen, usually known as the "home" cursor position.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>clear</STRONG>
              Clear the screen: write the <STRONG>clear_screen</STRONG> capability's  value  to
              the standard output stream.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>cols</STRONG>
              Report the number of columns used by the current terminal type.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>-Tadm3a</STRONG> <STRONG>cols</STRONG>
              Report the number of columns used by an ADM-3A terminal.

       <STRONG>strong=`tput</STRONG> <STRONG>smso`</STRONG> <STRONG>normal=`tput</STRONG> <STRONG>rmso`</STRONG>
              Set  shell variables to capability values: <STRONG>strong</STRONG> and <STRONG>normal</STRONG>, to
              begin and end, respectively, stand-out mode  for  the  terminal.
              One might use these to present a prompt.

                     printf "${strong}Username:${normal} "

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>hc</STRONG>
              Indicate  via  exit  status  whether the terminal is a hard copy
              device.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>cup</STRONG> <STRONG>23</STRONG> <STRONG>4</STRONG>
              Move the cursor to line 23, column 4.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>cup</STRONG>
              Report the value of the <STRONG>cursor_address</STRONG>  (<STRONG>cup</STRONG>)  capability  (used
              for cursor movement), with no parameters substituted.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>longname</STRONG>
              Report  the <EM>terminfo</EM> database's description of the terminal type
              specified in the <EM>TERM</EM> environment variable.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>-S</STRONG>
              Process multiple capabilities.  The <STRONG>-S</STRONG> option can be  profitably
              used with a shell "here document".

              $ <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>-S</STRONG> <STRONG>&lt;&lt;!</STRONG>
              &gt; <STRONG>clear</STRONG>
              &gt; <STRONG>cup</STRONG> <STRONG>10</STRONG> <STRONG>10</STRONG>
              &gt; <STRONG>bold</STRONG>
              &gt; <STRONG>!</STRONG>

              The  foregoing  clears  the screen, moves the cursor to position
              (10, 10) and turns on bold (extra bright) mode.

       <STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>clear</STRONG> <STRONG>cup</STRONG> <STRONG>10</STRONG> <STRONG>10</STRONG> <STRONG>bold</STRONG>
              Perform the same actions as the foregoing "<STRONG>tput</STRONG> <STRONG>-S</STRONG>" example.


</PRE><H2><a name="h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></H2><PRE>
       <STRONG><A HREF="clear.1.html">clear(1)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG>stty(1)</STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="tabs.1.html">tabs(1)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="tset.1.html">tset(1)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="curs_termcap.3x.html">curs_termcap(3x)</A></STRONG>, <STRONG><A HREF="terminfo.5.html">terminfo(5)</A></STRONG>



ncurses 6.5                       2025-02-15                           <STRONG><A HREF="tput.1.html">tput(1)</A></STRONG>
</PRE>
<div class="nav">
<ul>
<li><a href="#h2-NAME">NAME</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SYNOPSIS">SYNOPSIS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-DESCRIPTION">DESCRIPTION</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#h3-Operands">Operands</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Aliases">Aliases</a></li>
<li><a href="#h3-Terminal-Size">Terminal Size</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
<li><a href="#h2-OPTIONS">OPTIONS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-EXIT-STATUS">EXIT STATUS</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-ENVIRONMENT">ENVIRONMENT</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-FILES">FILES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-PORTABILITY">PORTABILITY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-HISTORY">HISTORY</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-EXAMPLES">EXAMPLES</a></li>
<li><a href="#h2-SEE-ALSO">SEE ALSO</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</BODY>
</HTML>
